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Jazz

Deer and Water

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So I've been hunting deer awhile, and I always had this assumption that they hit water much more often than I've observed.

 

Trying out the new binocs, I'm climbing a decent hill overlooking a water hole. Come 7:15pm, they're coming out of the woodwork. I'm glassing does and bucks 50-600 yards away. They're all doing their thing, slow grazing across the desert.

And completely ignoring the water hole between us.

 

I'm thinking if I was a deer and pinned down by 110 all day and hid under a bush, come sundown I'd be thirsty. And I guess that's really not the case at all. They might be getting their water somewhere else, or maybe it's in the foods they eat. But watching, real time, has changed my perception quite a bit. Water isn't everything.

 

They're not hitting it at night either. Oh there's a few new tracks once in awhile, but for the area, they largely avoid it.

 

Just how often do coues drink? Once every two days? Three? Is it possible to skip water for long periods and get the necessary fluid out of what they eat?

 

 

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It largely depends on the deer. Bucks vs does and body size of each. For instance a large body sized buck will actually need less water than a small buck, and a doe that is lactating or pregnant will need water more often than any other deer.

 

Those are just generalizations... But it depends on what they are eating as well. Deer create water from the food they eat through metabolization, and then you bring in other environmental factors like morning dew if it exists, etc and it's kind of a crap shoot.

 

A large buck with a good nutrition base and a non "dry" landscape probably doesn't need free standing water as often as some people believe.

 

Don't take that as a rule though as all creatures can be habitual.

 

I probably just "muddied" the water so to speak, but there are a ton of factors that play into it.

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Deer water when they are thirsty and feel safe to do so. Dawn, dusk and night can be the most dangerous times at a waterhole.

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you can bet there are multiple seeps/springs within a mile or 2 of said waterhole that will hold just enough for deer. you can bet they know them all

 

trying to figure out exact water visits may not be possible .

 

that said they can walk in and drink anytime of day or night

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I've seen most waterhole action in he middle of the day. Unless you're actually watching that water hole around the clock you have no way of knowing what is hitting it. It may be part of their routine to hit it only every couple of days or not at all if there's something they don't like about that particular waterhole and there are other options.

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I was watching a waterhole in 36C a few years ago on a Oct hunt, it was still quite warm out. The Deer were coming into it like planes at Skyharbor. Two small Bucks came into it and it was all business they got their drink and they were gone, at least two does actually got into the water. The next day two really nervous does came in got a drink and was gone and that was it. Later when I walked down to the water there were cat tracks around it.

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I've watched deer come to water, walked down later on and found that they walked on hard ground with no tracks. Is there any places at your pond that it's hard enough not to leave tracks? If not I bet their hitting another very small water source that your unware of, with the rains brings water in places it's usually not. They won't drink out of a stink pond if there is a closer fresh puddle/seep/rock filled with water.

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One of my cams had deer and javalina coming in every day!! Except when it rained they would avoid it for 1-2 days. I have a 2-3 hour window when they come in. This camera alone is making me change my august archery hunt unit...

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The water has a soft edge of mud all around.. so I know it's only being briefly visited. I might see a fresh new set of tracks daily. (I watched for 4 days).

 

Good info all, thanks. I guess it's a crap shoot. I have 2 cams up but nothing ever hit. They dont follow the same path- and criss cross everywhere. I've seen more deer real time. Deer every night, but the variety changes.

 

I've got less than two weeks to make sure I'm accurate to 60 yards..I'll just focus on that =)

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Coues and water are much like me and the urban "watering holes" I frequent from time to time, I'll go right pass some of them to get to the one I want, drink my fill and move on!

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One drink can go a long way. They don't sweat out fluids like we do and with all the green up they get a lot of water from that. Do they get hot? I'm sure they do but they don't loose a lot of moisture cause of it IMO.

 

Up on the strip there are great bucks every year that get killed that no one has a picture of. Mine was one of them. There are more cameras per square mile than anywhere on earth on every water, salt, saddle etc. yet a big buck shows up. Scouting water is just a small part of scouting and hunting unless its rutting elk....

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According to DuWane Adams deer get their moisture primarily from plants. So when they do hit water it is essentially supplemental to what they are already getting. Personally I would never sit water during summer archery season unless it was very dry out, even then I think the odds would be better to glass up a buck and make a stalk.

 

Also I think if the area is an easy ambush area for predators deer will avoid it. I had three cams out at the same time and two of the spots were open in a way where deer could see something coming. Another cam was in a kind of steep bowl shaped cut that was fairly dark due to all the canopy and cover. Never got a single deer on the third cam but did get bears and a lion while the other cams got deer semi regular.

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I too believe that Deer get most of there water from there food if its during the wet season. Its amazing how long they can go without hitting a major pond or other water source. Just using small puddles and the vegetation to keep them going.

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